


Sometimes goodbye is a second chance

by WhimperSoldier



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex Manes Saves The Day, Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Alex Manes, M/M, No Maria Hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-07-31 15:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20117005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimperSoldier/pseuds/WhimperSoldier
Summary: The room was dim with the walls lined with gold filigree that shined in the low light. He saw what might have been a door, outlined in the same glass as the console. It pulsed happily while Alex felt his heart pounding painfully against his ribs. He had instinctively backed away from the unknown and ended pressed against the far wall; his fingers were pressed against smooth glass and were chilling the longer his body remained taut in panic.He turned and felt his stomach fall.The glass was an observation window and for as far as the eye could see was nothing but stars, not a planet in sight.He was on a fuckingspaceship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is such a specific story idea that I knew was too niche for anyone else to write so I figured i'd have to write it myself. This story was made purely for me to write everyone being in love with Alex Manes.
> 
> Story is complete and will be finished once I edit.
> 
> Also yes, the title is from the song Second Chance and fits perfectly with these characters.

The lawn chair creaked under his weight when Alex fell into it. His bag felt like it was burning a hole in his side so he tossed it across from him and refused to look at the lightly glowing console piece he could see spilled out.

Alex had known something was wrong but no one wanted to answer their damn phone so he was forced to go find them.

And find them he did.

Alex sighed and laid his head in his hands and refused to cry, not here at Michael's stupid fucking Airstream with its sticky latch and too small bed.

He hadn't even seen them, the Pony was closed but he figured someone would be there to answer his questions, and someone was. Two someones.

He'd heard the song first floating through the window Maria always cracked when she was puttering around the kitchen. He had pulled the key out of the loose brick of the alleyway and walked inside. He wanted to be spitting mad, to march in with all his righteous fury, but the only thing he could bring himself to do was peak in and watch Michael pluck at the guitar in the melody they had played a decade before on the trundle bed in his back shed.

That more than anything felt like betrayal. Not that he had come to Maria before Alex, not that they were seated in the quiet isolation of the closed bar, not even the soft looks on both their faces, but that Michael thought to share that song with anyone but him.

The bar's back door closed quietly and the walk to his car was interrupted when he started crying and couldn't bring himself to stop.

Too much, was all he could think, just too much too soon.

He didn't remember much of the drive back, only that he ended up not at his cabin but Guerin's stupid fucking trailer with that stupid fucking alien shard of glass flickering lightly in the cab of his car.

He had wanted to give it back after their talk. Look how that turned out. So here he was, alone and with no one to blame but himself and maybe his fucking dad.

The glass fluttered like a heartbeat, the colors fading in and out as symbols drifted by on an invisible wind.

He stood abruptly, he wanted the damn thing gone and he wanted to be the one to put the piece back where it came from. It would piss off Michael that he didn't get to do it but that was part of the appeal.

He pulled a chain from the garage and hooked it to the tailgate of his Jeep and moved the Airstream out of the way. He yanked the glass from his bag and made his way down the ladder taking each ring carefully so as to keep his feet under him.

The bunker hadn't changed much, only a few things moved around, but the control module was still covered by a tarp in the corner. He pulled it off and watched the glass shimmer and shine.

He let the other pieces fall into place and slowly knit together before finally setting his peice into the hole left behind. Little strands of light tied them together, the symbols leaking from one piece to the next and Alex could appreciate the beauty in the design.

The spite that had been filling his stomach faded and he was left with only a quiet loneliness he was intimately familiar with.

His leg was getting a little tight and he knew his PT was going to be hell next week but moved to leave with his head held high. He had just reached the ladder when he heard a quiet humming. It sounded like the quiet beating of drums but from far away, a distant whine of something charging. He looked back at the module and then moved to lean over it, pressing an ear to the glass.

It was buzzing quietly, gaining speed. It sent a stone crashing into his stomach and he raced for the ladder, his prosthetic feeling inflamed where it rubbed at flesh. The last time he'd heard a noise like that he had watched an EMP take out an entire bank of servers and start a fire that took days to put out.

He had reached the first rung when the machine sent out a pulse of energy that screamed as it expanded and threw him forward like a shockwave.

Alex fell to the floor, vision blurring and head throbbing. His breathing was labored and it took all of his energy to turn on his side so when he vomited he wouldn't choke. God his fucking leg ached.

It was like he was floating in limbo, a warmth pressed to his cheek then a flash of pain in his sternum that felt as if someone had pressed their hand into his chest.

He slept.

And slept.

Alex startled awake when the crack of metal settling rang out. His body felt as if he was one entire bruise but nothing felt broken and his stomach wasn't flipping. He checked his head, hands, and teeth, cataloging each pain with a methodical precision as he went down the list. Once he finished he took the time to glance up.

The room was dim with the walls lined with gold filigree that shined in the low light. He saw what might have been a door, outlined in the same glass as the console. It pulsed happily while Alex felt his heart pounding painfully against his ribs, as if it might burst out of his chest. He had instinctively backed away from the unknown and ended pressed against the far wall; his fingers were pressed against smooth glass and were chilling the longer his body remained taut in panic.

He turned and felt his stomach fall.

The glass was an observation window and for as far as the eye could see was nothing but stars, not a planet in sight.

He was on a fucking _spaceship._

Alex wanted to be strategic, to demand a type of parley to gather information and maybe gain some information he could use to defend himself. He wanted to tear off the new prosthetic he found connected to his leg but it connected to his skin with pearly white strands that moved with him for painless integration that only managed to piss him off more.

He always worked best when he was in a little pain and now he was denied that.

But the reality of the situation was that he was really and truly alone. The thought was more terrifying than anything his father could throw at him. 

Alex pounded on the door, aware that if he was the one abducting a stranger that he would have them monitored.

He was right, because only minutes after he quieted down, the glass peeled away and a man walked in. He wore a wrapped dress with fabric tightened at his ankles by bright glass bangles. His shoulders and waist were capped with the same material and it made him shimmer in the low light. He wore a circlet in his hair pinned in place behind his curls. But Alex couldn't focus on anything, not the pointed spear he carried or the flanking guards, or even the open door that could have been his escape.

No, Alex was to focused on the man's face.

"Michael?" 

The man raised an eyebrow and pressed a small disk to his throat.

"This is your language, yes?" He sounded stiff but also exactly like Michael. Alex felt off balance and could only bring himself to nod. The man smiled politely. "I am Rath. What may I call you?"

"Alex."

He needed to sit down but it felt as if his body was locked.

"How did you send the beacon?"

Alex takes a deep breath and breaks down his question word by word. Beacon, not just a console then. Send? He didn't mean to send anything.

"It was shattered in the crash, I only put the last piece in. Was it a distress call?" Alex asked. It made the most sense, why he was in-- shit he was in space. His life was becoming a _Star Trek _episode. "So are you--"

Alex groaned and rubbed his face in resignation. This was his life now.

"Aliens? Yes, we are." Rath smiled and it was less cordial and more friendly. "While you might not believe it, we are not in the practice of abducting your people no matter what your movies say."

"Shit, tell me you haven't seen Independence Day," Alex half-jokes in panic but from the rueful twist to Michael-Rath's face, it might not have been that far off. "Why did you take me?"

Rath became more solemn. 

"It seems like you might be in need of a history lesson." Rath waved to the guards and they parted, Alex moving between them and out into the curved hallway. As they walked, Rath talked. "The crash you stumbled upon was the remains of a refugee shuttle. During the Battle of White Horn they were lost and our radar couldn't find their beacon location."

"Wait, White Horn? Why didn't the beacon transmit?" Alex had many more questions but he feared which side he had landed on and which of his questions might give away how much he knew. Alex was an Air Force man whether he liked it or not, and he knew when to interrogate and when to play dumb.

"White Horn, this galaxy. What do you call it?" Rath seemed honestly interested, moving in front of Alex to wave his hand in front of a large dent in the hallway wall. As it had in his cell, the glass peeled back. Doors only opened with alien powers, good to know.

"The Milky Way." Alex answered, scanning what had to be a sort of relay station. There were screens embedded in glass that showed schematics and what looked to be streams of dialogue between this ship and others. "The beacon was shattered on impact so it just stopped working then?"

"Much of our technology is based on our gifts, without anyone to repair it, it would become nothing but--" He went quiet as if thinking of the correct word. "--trash."

"So if you are in the middle of a war that makes refugees, why stop to pick me up?" Alex questioned and Rath smiled slyly, as if he had asked a particularly clever question.

A woman, at least he thought it might have been a woman, looked their way and spoke in perfect if accented English without the translator Rath was using. 

"We are not fighting a civil war, we _lost_ a civil war." She huffed and pushed her seat away from the small overhang which looked like a very smooth desk. She had short bobbed hair and had many pins in her outfit, an officer perhaps. Once she reached them, she tilted her head to the side and did a weird curtsey Alex thought might be their version of a salute. "I am Admiral Roe and you have met Commander Rath. We came for you because that ship was carrying the three Reborns."

"Our leaders," Rath explained with a pained expression and Alex could almost feel the pieces falling into place.

Only three pods were hidden during the crash. Only three when the data he'd found from the prison said there could have been hundreds of aliens on that ship. So many lives yet they chose to save those three.

"King Zan was hoping to retreat and build a resistance on Earth but we suspect his ship was sabotaged and it crashed. By the time the resistance could send help, there was no trace of the ship or our leaders."

"So imagine our surprise when the King's beacon lights up our sensors and we find you collapsed next to the thing like a _kreva." _Admiral Roe said then elaborated. "Like an idiot."

"You had drawings in your--" Rath didn't seem to know what to call it and none of his words seemed to translate. "Buried deep room?"

"Bunker?" Alex tried and Rath smiled and rodded, reaching out to brush his hand down Alex's arm. 

"Do you know anything about the crash victims?" 

Wasn't that a loaded question. Admiral Roe was watching him with eyes as sharp as glass, waiting for him to slip up. She had something tucked into her hip that looked suspiciously like a blade.

He could tell them about Max and Isobel and Michael but he also had no way to prove their story, because that could be all this is, an elaborate setup.

A few years into his deployment, Alex's CO had needed to knock some sense into one of the translators they were using. He'd watched as he spun a beautiful story about how wonderful America was and how if he just helped Alex's team to get the information he needed that all of the bounties of the country would be his for him and his family. The translator had nodded along and smiled when his CO had and then once the op had finished, he left him and his family in the desert surrounded on all sides by the people he had helped to take down.

Alex knew the power of a pretty story, he knew because his father told a lot of them and when his father decided the threat of violence wasn't enough, Alex got pretty good at spinning a story too.

Lies only really work when all the pieces are almost truths. Take note of what they know and what they don't. They didn't know who he was, or more importantly, who his father is. They don't know about the pod squad or Noah--

_Noah._

"I met one, I think." The two perked up. "He went by the name Noah but he was crazy. He could mess with people's minds and started killing people because he said it made him stronger."

At least that's what Liz had told Kyle who told him. Use the story to get then to tell you more. Alex wanted to be mad that the voice whispering in his head sounded so much like his father but it was sound advice even from an asshole.

"A rare gift indeed. We can drain life energies in times of dire need but that is in direct violation of the Conchords. Where is this man, he must face justice." Rath seemed to stand taller, his staff glowed a little brighter from where it was strapped to his back.

Alex wasn't sure how to play this. On one hand he could maybe convince them to turn around and take him home, on the other, they might take his lying for high treason and kill him and that was all relying on the hope they didn't have someone like Isobel on board.

"He is dead," Alex settled on. "I don't know how though."

Roe turned to her commander and whispered in what must have been their language. It was guttural and harsh but still had familiar sounds, which confused Alex more. When Rath responded it was a gut punch.

That would have been what Michael sounded like, what he still might sound like if he used this technology to return to his planet with his people. And he wanted to ask, why did Rath have his face, but that would be the easiest give away that he knew more than he was letting on.

Rath had pulled something from his ear when he had started talking with Roe. It was curved and clear with a small bundle of metal at the center. There also happened to be identical ones on the relay station to his right.

No one else was in the room, maybe cleared for his impromptu interrogation, so he had an easy time leaning back on the desk and rubbing his leg when Roe looked at him distrustfully. 

Alex put weight on his shoulders and looked out the nearest window with fear that was not as fake as he was wanting it to be. It also was a convenient position that faced his left side away from the two aliens and allowed him to stick the translator into his ear. Unlike the doors, it started without any powers, for which Alex was thankful.

It felt like a trickle of water into his brain, like when Michael would gently brush his hair from his eyes. A warmth and then the words started to make sense in his mind like he had known them the entire time.

"--you see is a pretty face! He said one lived and if one survived so could others!" Roe was spitting mad but Alex could tell that even without the translation tech. "We have to go back and look harder!"

"If one was driven crazy by the time left in those pods who's to say our leaders won't be as tyrannical as Kivar?" Rath challenged and looked Alex's way. He made sure to keep his eyes on the distant points of light millions of light years away.

"What about Mara?" Roe had barely gotten the words out when Rath had the point of his spear under her chin. Alex moved instinctively, tucking himself back in the corner. Rath didn't notice and Roe couldn't turn her head.

"_Don't say her name_."

"Your mother could be waiting for you and yet you sit here stewing in your own indecision." Roe went for the throat alright.

Mara was on Earth, Michael's mother who had died and now he was looking at what had to be her other son. Fuck, he had failed all of them.

Slipping the earpiece into the pocket of the borrowed pants, he turned to talk to the two who were, literally, at each other's throats.

"I'm not going back to Earth, am I?" Alex aimed for desponded and nailed it. Rath's face folded while Roe's hardened.

"Right now you are the only source of information on the crash. We can't let you go for fear you might tell someone and it might get our people killed."

Rath was absolutely correct in that assessment but he didn't know Alex had already gotten his people killed. Alex didn't even have to fake the feeling of loss he felt.

"I'm not the only one who knew about aliens. There was this guy, he knew about everything, even the glass." As his mother used to say, in for a penny, in for a pound. "Looking back, he could have known more. Maybe he was one of you?"

God, the hope on their faces was almost too much. Alex had almost entirely thrown out the idea of them being sent to kill Michael and the Evens from their inability to lie alone.

But he needed back-up and to get off this ship. He didn't want it to come to a fight but if it did, he wanted his side to be prepared. So he needed his phone, a computer, and his own fucking pants.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short little interlude before then end! We get to see what everyone is getting up to!

Michael was ashamed to admit he hadn't thought of Alex in days when Kyle called an emergency meeting at the Wild Pony. Granted he was still in fits over Max and Liz was a mess he couldn't handle right now, and apparently Rosa was a little bit of a bitter asshole he might have liked under different circumstances but right now she just looked at them with distrust and hatred. Maria was a whole other bag of worms now that she was tucking Rosa under her chin and refusing to meet Michael's eyes.

But Alex was gone and _ he hadn't even noticed._

When Alex was deployed Michael convinced himself he would feel it if he died. Convinced that if a single hair on his head was harmed, Michael would know. And then Alex got his leg blown off around the time Michael was pretty sure he was rimming a tourist in their swanky hotel room outside of town.

Now, Alex vanished into thin air after they raided a military base and he couldn't help but feel at fault.

It didn't help it was fucking Valenti who noticed first.

"I thought he might have just needed time but his Jeep is missing and he won't answer his phone. This isn't like him." Kyle looked pretty frazzled and Michael wondered how close he and Alex had gotten in that alien hunting bunker, before feeling immediate regret. _Alex was missing._ "I was too busy hiding a crime to keep track of everyone; who saw him last?"

They went around quietly building a timeline and Michael felt dread curling in his gut when all signs pointed to him being the last to see Alex.

"He was at the Airstream. Said he wanted to talk." Michael didn't raise his voice but he didn't have to, the bar had gone deathly quiet. "I felt Max in pain and took off, told him I'd be back later."

He didn't mean to meet Maria's eyes but the regret in hers almost brought him to his knees.

"How long ago was that?" Liz asked. She wrapped her arms around herself and watched him struggle with tears in her eyes. "How long Michael?"

"A week?" 

Liz looked away from him and let her head drop onto Iz's shoulder. The two had drawn together in the wake of Max's death.

"Why the fuck didn't you say anything?" Valenti asked. Michael wanted to spit back but held his tongue. Alex. Alex was missing.

Michael stood and grabbed his keys from the sticky bar top.

"Where the fuck do you think you are going?" Valenti yelled. 

"To find Alex! Anyone wants to come with, they can ride in the bed." 

His Airstream was moved.

He ran to the bunker latch and when he dropped from the rungs he almost fell to his knees.

All of his work was torn from the walls, his clunky computer looked to be fried and all of his research notes were missing but what shattered him the most was the crystal across the floor.

His one way home was splintered down the middle.

It looked to have calcified and flecked apart like dying coral. Where it had once pulsed with life when he pressed his hand to it, it was dull and empty now. Dead.

Liz placed her hand on his shoulder. This had been one of the ideas to bring Max back, hoping it may have been a data storage bank of some kind just missing a piece.

_  
The idea was as dead as his brother, _ he thought bitterly.

He cried.

The others shuffled in except Rosa and Maria who had hung back at the Pony. Iz was running her fingers over his broken test tubes and remaining notes scattered across the tables. Valenti seemed to be looking for anything Alex shaped.

Michael was shaking, running his hand over the last connection he had to his family when he noticed something strange.

"It's fixed."

"It sure looks pretty broken to me," Liz joked but she was smart, smarter than most, and immediately started to look for his meaning.

"It was missing a piece when I left but now it's complete. Someone completed it and then it broke or that someone broke it." Good hypotheses now they needed to test them.

"Michael!"

Old Sanders was calling him and Michael climbed the ladder quickly and jogged around his Airstream to cut him off before he spotted the other three people following him up.

"Oh Michael, I've been looking for you for days when I spotted your truck!" The old man huffed and rubbed the sweat from his brow with a grease-stained cloth. "This Jeep has been here for a while, are you doing some work on it?"

"Yeah, Mr. S, a friend of mine said he wanted me to look at it, do you remember when he dropped it off?" Michael tried to look casual but he hadn't been sleeping here, choosing instead to crash at Isobel's.

"Oh, a week or so?"

Shit.

"Thanks Mr. S," He said and the man smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

"You are a good kid, Michael," Mr. Sanders said and Michael couldn't help but smile. "Also, keep an eye out for some vandal kids. A few hoodlums circled up the lot a few days ago."

"A crop circle?" Michael asked and Mr. S just laughed. "Where did they do this?"

"A dirt circle is more like it. In the back lot, I told the local paper to come take a picture of it but they told me to shove off. Guess aliens are old news," Michael laughed along with him and then tore off to the back lot.

They kept most of their junkers there that had spare parts they might be able to salvage. He picked his way past the rows of rusty cars and finally noticed in the middle of the lot was their three-pronged symbol burned into the ground.

"So let me get this straight," Maria huffed, pouring herself a drink. "Our leading theory for where Alex went it that he was_ abducted_?"

"None of our other theories account for all of the facts." Liz was really good at breaking down her thoughts through talking so Michael let her run. "The government wouldn't have left the alien tech or the mark in the ground. If Alex were hurt he would have called but both the cabin and bunker are empty. All signs show him entering Michael's lab and--"

Michael thought it was sweet she called it a lab but hated that she might be implying Alex never left the bunker that all.

That was not an idea he wanted to even consider.

"Right now we run on the assumption that Alex put up a fight and they took him." Valenti was surprising cool under pressure.

"Who are they? More aliens?" Rosa asked.

"That symbol, we knew it, before we knew our names or how to talk, we knew it. They have to be like us." Isobel said softly. She always talked a bit quieter around Rosa.

"What if the machine wasn't a navigation system; what if it was a back box?" Michael asked. Iz was still mad he had kept that from her but Liz was more focused on Alex. "Why now though, why didn't it do anything before?"

"What if Alex fixed it?" Valenti asked. "You said it was missing a piece before, right? Well when I checked his cabin the bunker had a hole in the wall. What if he found something?"

"He found the last piece and went to return it and it set something off," Liz hypothesized. "Like some kinda rescue flare?"

"So your people show up and take the wrong weirdo back with them," Rosa joked morbidly. Michael smiled back at her and ignored the tears gathering at the corner of her lashes.

"Only now we have no way to contact them and tell them to give us back Alex," Valenti concluded and wrapped all their feelings of hopelessness up with a neat little bow.

"They have to be hurting him to get information," Maria whispered what all of them were fearing. "But he is smart. We work on getting him back knowing that he'll be doing the same. We pick up each other's pieces."

She raised a shot as if to cheers before throwing it back. When she slammed the shot glass down she glared at them all.

"Well? Let's get to work!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for such sweet comments we are on the final stretch here but this last part is kinda long so I broke it in half.
> 
> I really like writing about weird alien planets so thanks for humoring me!

Alex knew a little something about cultural differences. He had been dropped into a world that talked, walked, and existed differently than he did and saw how many small misunderstandings could end at the barrel of a gun.

But being on an alien spaceship hurtling through the stars at what had to be light speed, Alex started to wonder if some things were just universal.

Gossip, for one.

He had spent the first night covering the cameras, or the alien equivalent lenses, with ripped bedsheets and when Rath came to ask him questions he just raised an eyebrow and smiled. He worked off the assumption there were other devices used to monitor him and hid his translator in his palm when he was lying on the cot listening to the guards mutter about things they wouldn't have if they knew what he was doing.

He almost felt like he was back in middle school when he would string his headphones through his hoodie to listen to music over the sounds of his parents fighting, and after she left, to drown out the world in general.

In the two days he had been kept there, Alex had learned that the resistance was down to only a few strongholds that were hanging on by threads. While staying scattered and quiet kept them alive, it also kept them isolated and at a disadvantage if one was ever caught.

He learned their current king they want to depose was recently married to a woman who was something that wouldn't translate. He could only guess at its meaning without anyone to ask.

A few talked about him and the favor Rath was showing him. They didn't seem to have a gender binary among themselves and that meant they also seemed to not care about sexual orientation. It seemed they weren't mad Rath was showing favor to a man, but that he was showing favor to a_ hu_man.

It was not a problem Alex thought he would have to deal with.

A doctor came in half way through the second day to check on his alien prosthetic. She refused to use a translator and forced the guard on shift to translate for her.

She grabbed his leg and turned it every which way to test his range of motion. When he asked questions about if he could take it off, he could read the disbelief in her voice even if he didn't understand the words.

"She asks why you would want it off, it is a feat of engineering compared to your…" Alex knew three languages and always picked up the curse words first. He knew the guard was trying to find a polite way to say 'piece of shit.' He settled on "old one."

He figured if they were unwilling to tell him how to take it off, they would definitely be unwilling to tell him if they put a listening device in it too.

His favorite guard by far was Alaxa who opened the door and talked to him for their whole two hour shift to the frustration of whoever else was on duty with them.

They were bright and bubbly with teal hair and bright blue eyes. They loved to ask about Earth and Alex tried to answer as honestly as possible. He was lying to enough people as it was.

"We only ever get to stop to refuel on comets and your Terra every ten months for water. I'm not high ranking enough to get to go." Today they had braided their hair into a crown on their head and spun a pointed dagger between their fingers.

Alex knew they had guns here, had seen a few people carrying them, but most preferred blades and spears. One guard carried a large axe.

It seemed as if Alaxa had exhausted their questions so Alex asked his.

"Blades are made from a special crystal from our homeworld. Harder to change with mind." Their voice was not as polished with the translator but Alex understood. Guns could backfire if they weren't fast enough but even a bent sword was pointy.

On their fifth day, Rath came to him alone. Alex pretended to stretch to hide him tucking the translator under his pillow.

"I have a question," Rath was standing with his arms folded behind his back. He almost looked like an Army man. Alex nodded and gestured to the only chair in the room as if he were simply hosting guests. Rath opened his mouth then closed it then tried again to speak. "My mother was on that ship."

Alex didn't even have to pretend to be surprised. He hadn't thought Rath would confide in him.

"I know the chances are low, but do you think she might still be alive?" Rath looked hopeful and Alex felt like shit. At Alex's expression, Rath's face crumpled and he tried to brush it off. "I know it was silly to ask, I never got to meet her is all. She ran before I was born--"

"Before?" Alex couldn't help but interrupt. Rath seemed happy for the interruption.

"I suppose our reproduction might be strange to you. Both our species are from the same evolutionary tree due in part to an asteroid impact on our respective planets." Rath laughed at Alex's face. "Natural birth is too dangerous for our bearers so we use the pods to help the babies grow instead. If left within, the child would drain the life force of the bearer."

"Why did your mother not take you?" Alex asked. He had seen the way Mara had looked at Michael, she loved him enough to give up herself. That woman would have taken her child with her.

"In a way, she did." Rath smiled without humor. "In my culture there must always be a Big Three. One to rule, Zan, one to lead, Vilandra, and one to fight, Rath. Me."

"You were chosen?" Alex could feel himself leaning in closer to Rath. The atmosphere of the conversation felt almost reverent.

"In a way, I was born for this. My genetic code is identical to every Rath spanning the generations back to Rath the Great. We are reborn each time our people are in need of us." Rath explained. He reached out and took Alex's hands but Alex was too focused on the idea of Michael being one of thousands. "The last Rath died before for Great Fleeing and so my mother was chosen to carry the next.

"When the castle was invaded my mother stole the Source, where we stored the genetic material of The Three. The hope was to raise them and then return."

"Which was why you came so fast when you received the beacon," Alex said. "But your mother--"

"I had hoped my partners had returned." Rath confided. He was rubbing circles into the soft skin of Alex's hand and he was not strong enough to deny him that comfort. "To ensure viability, sometimes multiple embryos were tested. When they fled my mother hid my pod in another fleeing ship. My mother must have decided my twin was the better option."

It seemed in every life, Michael would feel the sting of rejection. Alex reached out and placed a soft hand on Rath's cheek. The man startled and looked at him in awe leading Alex to wonder the last time someone had touched him in comfort.

Rath tried to brush off the tender moment with a laugh.

"I inherited Rath's dagger, though, so not a total loss." Rath pulled an ornate blade from his belt and twirled it between his fingers.

Alex refused to let him play it off. Parents had a way of totaling fucking up their kids, of that Alex was an expert.

"I'm sure she--" 

Admiral Roe opened the door and marched in. She seemed to take in the scene in a second and Rath pulled his hands back as if he had been burned.

Alex tucked the soft parts of himself away when Rath did; there was no place for them here.

"We will land within the day. I am to be your leiasion." Roe stated. She tossed his clothes back at him and Alex was half-tempted to strip right there. "We will exit with a team of three and go to the home of your contact. Once there we will evaluate for ourselves if your information was valid."

It was a very polite way of saying there would be consequences for him lying if he was caught. So he couldn't be caught. He didn't need her to outline what might happen to him if he failed.

Even with the advanced tech, the landing was a bit rough and shook his cabin. Roe marched in with Rath and another man with a stern expression and no hair. She gestured to him and Alex stood, more comfortable in his leather jacket and jeans.

Rath shot him a smile.

The first breath of fresh air was almost euphoric, the recycled air of the ship had tasted dull on his tongue.

It was late but Alex could see the faint lights of downtown even miles away, more importantly, he could feel his dying phone vibrate in his pocket as it connected with LTE. One problem down, three more to go.

"I need to get something from my cabin. My contact won't trust me if I come empty-handed." Roe nodded, clicked something on her wrist that looked like a fancy GPS, and started walking.

He would have complained but the alien prosthetic was smooth as his old stride. They had a sort of jelly that was sealed between his skin and the material of the leg which allowed for perfect bending of his knee. It was almost a wonder to be able to walk without worrying about over-balancing.

Rath smiled at him and Alex couldn't help but smile back. Here under the Earth's stars, he looked less alien than he had on the ship. His hair frizzed like Michael's did and when he brushed it out of his face, Alex had to stop himself from reaching out too.

"So what are you going to do if we find these aliens of yours?" Alex asked. He had pushed his guilt into a tight ball in his stomach but he couldn't help but wonder if what he was doing was right. "I'm just thinking, if you look like us, then they do too, right? What if they have lives or kids or something?"

"The fate of our planet rests in their hands, they must come with us." Ever the pragmatist, Roe didn't even turn away from her solid soldier march. 

"Besides, who doesn't want to be royalty?" Rath smirked and in the darkness, Alex could almost believe he was just taking a walk with Michael. "The Three belong together, only together can we bring an end to the tyrant who stole the throne. We have been waiting for them, so they must come."

Alex tried to smile to distract from how his hands were shaking.

Closer to the roads the three clicked buttons on their suits and Alex watched as the flowing fabrics tightened into jeans and different colored long-sleeved shirts. From a distance he was sure they looked fine but once you got closer they looked like some goons from a Bond film.

Alex almost said something but caught himself at the last minute. Rath seemed to catch his cut off laugh and shot him a wink.

It took almost an hour to reach his house but once they did, he felt the blood drain from his face.

The light was on and he could see a few figures behind the pulled curtains. They looked to be searching for something. The aliens tensed, pulling weapons from their sides but Alex raised a hand and the sign for 'halt' must have been universal.

He moved quietly up to the dark jeep parked haphazardly in the front of his cabin. There was an American flag key chain attached to the key ring and while the license plates were not military, there was an Air Force sticker on the back window.

Alex made note of the opened box of shells in the back seat.

"They are armed and most likely ex-military." Alex briefed them. Rath just smiled cruelly when he pulled his spear from his bag and letting the metal unfold and the connectors fuse together to hide the metal's seams.

"Well we are current military." Rath said. Alex stopped him with a hand to the arm.

"Wait until they exit or split up. We need this to be quick and clean, ok?"

Rath raised a single eyebrow and Alex forced himself to relax, here he couldn't be the soldier because he hadn't told them he was and if they thought he was hiding something then, he might be hiding something now.

Three somethings, in fact.

They went in high and tight, Rath in front flanked by Roe and her second. Alex was back center, the most protected of their group.

It was almost like being back in the service. For a split second he could almost feel the weight of his pack and the sand in his shoes. Rath became his CO and Roe and Baldy could have been Thompson and Clearwater, and then the vision faded the moment Rath blew his front door of the hinges with his mind.

Alex was right, the men were older and were lacking tactical gear that the military would have. He didn't have the chance to think much else before Rath hefted his spear over his shoulder and sent it hurling into the shoulder of the man closest to them.

They hadn't even had time to raise their guns and when they did, Alex learned why exactly so many of the Antarians preferred the old school.

Rath only had to bend the barrel a bit and one of their guns exploded in their face and another lost theirs completely when Roe threw her hand out and the air rippled with pressure that sent the man falling to his knees.

Alex left them to it, racing into his room and the discarded phone charger by his bedside table. He plugged his phone in and watched it flash warningly at him.

It felt like decades passed when the crashes quieted from his living room and he was left with a black screen. He almost kissed the thing when it started up and the stock photo of a beagle smiled back at him.

It opened and he clicked to the messages app and then froze.

He had thought about what exactly he wanted to say, down to the punctuation but hesitated on who he should send it to.

Michael was out of the question, the rest of the pod squad could be recognized, Kyle couldn't be trusted to lie to save his life and Liz would ask to many questions.

He finally clicked on a name and typed out what he wanted to say and sent it, giving him just enough time to tuck it back into his pocket and lay back on the bed, panting as Rath and Roe raced in.

Alex huffed and didn't even have to fake the frantic beating of his heart. Baldy was visible just outside of the door frame, hand pressed to one of the men's foreheads. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Protha can erase bad memories," Rath explained as he brushed some loose wood shards from Alex's shirt.

Alex just nodded and helped them load the passed out men into their jeep to leave along the road somewhere.

As their car became indistinguishable from the inky blackness, Alex laughed lightly and patted baldy on the shoulder in a sort of comradery. 

"That sure was scary, huh?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter is here!
> 
> Thank you all so much for the support and nice comments, it has made this story so amazing and it's nice to know how much everyone loves Alex Manes.
> 
> While I can't really write action, I tried my best and thank you everyone for reading!

When her phone flashed with a message, Maria almost ignored it. Alex, her best friend since grade school, kindest, sweetest, smartest friend, was missing and while he was possibly being abducted, she was making eyes at his man.

Her other best friend, Rosa, was also back which threw her emotions into overdrive and also made her want to smoke something to relax a little. She may be a bit psychic but no one can see the future if that future should be impossible.

Point being, she had more importantly things to worry about than that guy Jared finally texting her back. When she finally shut down for the night and checked in on Rosa and the gang, she felt as useless as she had when her mother was diagnosed.

Everyone was on edge and all of them had spent the last few nights at Isobel's house seeing as it had the most beds and comfy couches to crash on after all their brainstorming and communication prototypes failed.

Maria was just about to flick the switch to turn off the neon sign after staying late to finish the payroll when her cell pinged a text from Jerod. She scoffed and then almost dropped her phone when she realized the text above his was Alex's.

_Aliens on way to Pony play crazy maybe good guys but looking for pod squad play it safe._

It was a crazy text but Maria got really good at interpreting his messages since the start of high school when Alex's dad started reading them so they had to use soft codes and lots of reading between the lines.

They wanted crazy, well for Alex, she'd give them fucking nuts.

***

The Pony's neon was still on even though they had closed over an hour ago. Alex had to hope that meant Maria had got his message and they weren't about to get jumped.

He had seen the three aliens move and while he was sure his people would put up a good fight, these were trained soldiers and his people just had gusto, guts, and lots of luck on their side.

The three aliens seemed to be sniffing the air like bloodhounds, Alex assumed hoping to feel the resonance of another of their kind, but all three deflated and then pulled themselves back together all within seconds of entering the Pony.

Maria was behind the bar rubbing out glasses in a deliberate way she never did. It was a message to him: she was ready. She smiled at him soft and reserved and so very unlike her. He wanted to hug her but figured that might be pushing his luck.

"Hey Maria," Alex kept his voice soft. He was happy to see her.

"Alex. What do you need from me?"

And wasn't that a loaded question. He needed a hug and his best friend back. He needed Micheal and Maria but not together. Right now he needed her tremendous acting skills.

"She is not a man," Roe pointed out. Alex had been hoping their differencing use of pronouns between their language and English could be overlooked but Roe was a trained soldier. Alex had to be the same.

"Yeah well I was in kind of a stressful situation when you interrogated me." Maria flinched but Alex just shook his head. Her rushing to defend him was commendable but it could get both of them killed. "Maria here knows about that sparkly glass, right?"

"If by that you mean I know where it comes from, not really, but I know where I found it. Why are you asking?" She played off the very weird scene of the four of them like they were just a few roughty college kids who drove down from Albuquerque for the night and might cause trouble. She had already pinned Roe as the one to watch out for, Alex could feel it, and it made him want to smile.

"We are looking for more things from the crash. Do you know of anything?" Maria ran her tongue across her teeth and Alex hoped he told her enough to know how to play it. He just needed these aliens off his planet.

Alaxa had said they came to Earth every few months to restore water for their ship, it wasn't like he was depriving Michael from his chance to leave, he just knew that they were war-hardened and jaded and might not give Isobel and Max much of a choice when it came to who was staying and who was going.

"My mom owned this bar before I did, she got all the locals and by extension, all the local stories." God damnit she was good. There was a reason her palm reading business was still making bank and that was because Maria could read a room like a fucking champ. "Some guys came in a few years back with a few things they took from deep storage at the base they were stationed at. I knew Alex liked that sort of thing and he paid me a pretty penny to take them off my hands."

Rath looked angry at the dead end Maria had led them down but Roe was watching her with a sharp glare Maria returned. She had been mind controlled by an alien only weeks before but never let it be said that Maria DeLuca took anything sitting down.

"Did these men ever mention anything about pods?" Roe cut to the quick.

"What, like with aliens inside? No I think they might have left that part out," Maria made a joke about it and that seemed to cement the feeling of asking a line of pointless questions.

They backed away from the bar and Maria took her cue and puttered away over to the far side of the bar to fold napkins. Final step, convince mind reading aliens to leave and come back when he was running on more than two hours of sleep.

"Perhaps it is better this way," Roe straightened her shirt and ran her fingers over where her belt would normally rest. "It's like Rath said, if the Three were here they might have been driven insane by the pods or even killed by the people who scavenged their ship."

She had made that connection before Alex could even recommend it to her. Rath reached a hand out to comfort his second-in-command and they shared a sweet headbutt.

"I'm not much, but I am Rath. We will figure something--"

The door to the bar was yanked open and Kyle walked in, his face flushed from running and followed by Liz and--

Michael.

"Alex!"

Everything went to hell in a handbasket in the space between a heartbeat.

Rath's spear slammed into Kyle with a meaty thud. Alex screamed as Kyle went flying back into Liz and they both crashed into a table and didn't get up from where they had sprawled.

For the first time in over a year, Alex wished desperately for his crutch if only to have a heavy object to bash someone over the head with.

He reached over the counter and grabbed a thick bottle of bourbon instead and brought it down on the head of Baldy. Roe would have been ideal but she was on the other side of Rath, who had turned to him in shock.

Alex refused to feel ashamed about the betrayed look Rath wore.

Michael always had a masochistic streak a mile wide and a rattlesnake's temper. Watching as Rath eyed him without an ounce of mercy in his eyes, he wondered if that anger was a Rath trait Michael might have been born with, and not something beaten into him by a faulty social services system.

"Alex!"

Michael had blasted Roe back and Maria had jumped the counter and pulled one arm of Roe's behind her back as Isobel held the other. Kyle was still not moving but Liz was up pulling a bundle from her bag.

Michael was in the middle of the action now, gun raised at his doppelganger. Rath had his knife in his hand.

Alex had the thought that this must have been surreal for them both. Michael hated his own reflection and Rath saw the person he was never good enough to be. The only outcome either could see would be beating the other.

"Stop Michael!"

Alex threw himself in Michael's path. A gun would do shit to Rath but piss him off.

The room went still for a fraction of a second before Roe headbutted Maria and kicked Isobel off. She reached out and put a chokehold on Isobel, cutting the connection Isobel must have been attempting to make. Alex wanted to help but there was a sudden pressure against his neck he realized fairly quickly was Rath's knife.

The knife Rath had showed him in confidence, the one thing that proved he was good enough.

"Don't do this Rath," Alex was a codebreaker not a negotiator, but he would save himself just to take that punch-drunk expression of Michael's face.

"You know him, this whole time you played us for fools! I trusted you!" Rath pressed harder in anger and unintentionally nicked his neck. Alex tried to regulate his breathing to avoid cutting himself further. His blood felt warm on his chest and pulled a thoughtless cry from him that was echoed by Michael. That angered Rath more. "You knew where the three were this whole time, and you wished to what? Protect your government?"

"My friends Rath. I was trying to protect my friends," Alex tried to make his voice sound soft. Roe was watching with wide eyes, it seemed even she was surprised at Rath's outburst. She still had a tight grip on a slack Isobel's arm, as if she might lift her over her shoulder and run off with her.

"Drop your weapon!" Rath screamed and Michael let his revolver clatter to the floor. He was watching the slow trickle of blood stain the neck of Alex's shirt with wide, horrified eyes.

"Rath--" Talking hurt but he tried to force something out. Rath took it out of his hands when he pressed his hand to Alex's mouth to silence him.

Alex felt his blood start to boil. 

His father used to press him face first into walls and then use the disorientation to spin him around and smother him while he made demands. A covered mouth meant Alex was robbed of a voice he hadn't used freely since he was a kid.

Fuck that.

Alex took a breath and sucked his neck in. He kicked out and caught Rath's knee, using the momentum to twist his arm and dislodge the knife.

Alien or not, his arm shot out instinctively to pinwheel to balance himself and Alex used the seconds to curl his fist, center himself, and deck him.

Roe raced past him leaving Isobel collapsed on the floor where Maria had jumped the bar to crouch down with her. Rath was watching him with wide eyes and a disbelieving look on his face. He dabbed at his split lip like he'd never seen it before.

Alex'd had a few in his life time and he hoped Rath's stung like a bitch.

"I just wanted to go home, asshole!" Was the eloquent response Alex could think of. He could still feel his neck bleeding sluggishly and wondered where Max was and if he could heal that for him. The leg was too much for most people, a slit throat might be taking it a step too far. 

Michael was at his shoulder when his feet seemed to go out from under him. He steadied himself and watched Rath eye the knife Alex had forgotten he was holding.

Even with his hair pushed back from his face, Rath looked so much like Michael it tied his stomach in knots. He had nightmares where he stood over a hurt Michael holding a weapon, though in his dreams it was normally a hammer.

Roe eyed Michael and Isobel. Alex knew that she knew. Alex also knew when playing dumb just got someone more pissed off and judging by their faces, Rath and Roe were about ready to snap.

"You wouldn't give them the option. You would have just dragged them into a war that wasn't theirs to fight. I couldn't let you." It's not his most elegant speech but he hoped it could get his point across. Alex was a soldier and so were they. All soldiers got tired sometime. "You want to stop that tyrant, gather your forces and plan for some guerrilla warfare, don't place all your chips on some mythical saviors to come and save your asses!"

"There must always be a Three!" Rath had blood dripping down his chin and Alex had to hold himself back from rubbing it away. His upper lip was trembling like a lost child. 

"Says who? The Three?" Alex laughed. He punched an alien clone of his booty call, his night was fucking weird and he was not a victim nor an idiot. "You said they were powerful, right? Well you are Rath. Go do it yourself."

Alex knew he was being harsh, could feel the way his words felt sharp coming out of his mouth. Roe looked shaken and Rath looked unmoored.

"Something I learned young, power is wherever you think it is. Go back to your planet and show the people the truth, show them they have options. That they have you." Alex stepped forward and Michael followed right behind him. He ignored the shaking tables to their sides but wondered for a split second which if the two was losing control of their powers. Maybe it was both. 

"What if I'm not enough?"

It was so quiet Alex might have wondered if he had heard it if he hadn't seen Rath's mouth move. Alex sighed and slowly, painting his movements as deliberate and steady, twisted the hilt of Rath's dagger back towards him.

"If your people mean that much to you, you will have to be."

The others were circling. Baldy was standing beside Roe in a defensive position, but he was mostly eyeing Isobel who was being hefted up by Maira. Their combined glares looked as if they might raze the building. Liz looked remarkably put together and was pressing a hand to Kyle's side as if she was checking for bruising under his bulletproof vest.

Rath looked him in the eye and slowly reached out to take the knife and slip it into his belt.

Compared to the dramatics of his speech, the rest of the night was remarkably anticlimactic. Kyle and Michael followed Alex and the other aliens back to their ship. Liz joined them to demand answers on how the pods worked and how they could be used to cure people.

Alex learned Max was dead and Rosa was alive. Alex explained his time as an alien captive. His joke about being probed fell flat.

Roe seemed quite detached from the idea of death, explaining to them death was destruction of the physical pathways in the brain. Only then could someone not be brought back.

Rath remained quiet, walking at the front of the group and refusing to talk. Even Baldy answered some of Kyle's questions regarding space and its effects on the human body.

When the ship came into view, the humans became tense but Rath raised his hand and the hull glowed lightly then dimmed like typing in the code to a house alarm.

Liz seemed happy about her answers, Roe seemed determined, Michael seemed pissed off, and Rath seemed despondent.

Alex turned to watch as Michael exited his truck and when he looked back, Rath was in front of him looking softer in his billowing clothes.

"You could come." Rath said. It was quiet but he said it with conviction and an unwavering stare. "With me."

Alex could almost feel Michael's eyes on the back of his head and for a moment he almost wanted to be conflicted. Almost.

Alex smiled and leaned forward on his toes, pressing a kiss to the crown of Rath's curls, exactly where his circlet sat.

"You don't need me," Alex stated.

"Maybe I want you," Rath whispered. Alex had to smile at the smirk he wore, it was such a Michael thing to say. "I can be what he is."

"I don't want you to," Alex said immediately. His father wanted a lot of things from him and to accomplish those he was forced to change parts of himself. It felt like losing something important and knowing you will never be able to find it again. Rath deserved better. "Go save your world then come back and ask me again. It's like you said, who doesn't want to be royalty?"

Rath burst into laughter and it was exactly like Michael's down to the little catch when he laughed too hard he choked a little.

Telegraphing his movements, Rath leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Alex's mouth, letting his hands cup Alex's damaged throat.

Before Alex could pull away, he felt a warmth and the tugging of torn skin was gone. Rath leaned back with his eyes still closed but a soft smile on his face.

"We are not worth you," Rath said and Alex was stunned into silence as they boarded their ship. Roe bowed and clicked her heels at Alex as she passed by and he knew it was her way of saluting another soldier and also her saying goodbye.

Rath looked back once and Alex refused to leave until the flare of their engines faded into a distant speck of light which snuffed out into darkness as it exited the atmosphere.

Michael sat with him, hand pressed to his knee as if to keep him grounded.

"You wanted to find your people and I found them first. How's that make you feel?" Alex smiled but Michael's eyes rested firmly on his throat where the knife had been pressed. He hadn't scarred.

"Who was he?" 

Alex sighed and looked back up at the stars only partly to avoid Michael's eyes.

"The culture on your home planet was some real Star Trek shit," Alex huffed and it drew a laugh out of Michael. "They have all these ideas about what you need to be to lead. Rath just needed to get his ass into gear."

"Wrath? That was his name? What a dick." Michael scoffed and Alex couldn't help but rise to defend him.

"He's not that bad."

"He cut your throat."

"Sometimes we hurt the people we care about," Alex whispered. They were crossing into the unspeakable parts in their relationship and he could almost feel Michael pulling away from the conversation without even moving. Before Alex could even open his mouth to try and fix it and inevitably say the wrong thing, Michael leaned over and placed his head on Alex's shoulder. He stilled to avoid shattering the moment.

"You go away for a week and you already replaced me," Even with the joking tone, Michael's words tore like a bullet. "Literally with myself."

"Well the way I see it, Rath said there were thousands of Raths but there is only one of you. So Michael Guerin, you are one of a kind." Michael laughed and buried his head into Alex's neck.

He let his thoughts drift before they settled like silk on a question he'd forgotten to ask.

"How did you guys know where I was?" Alex asked. He didn't think Maria would have tattled. Michael just laughed and laughed harder when Alex shot him a questioning glare.

"Your phone popped up on Kyle's. On that app, Find my Friends." Michael seemed to relished the half-amused half-annoyed smile his explanation pulled from Alex. He laughed again, bright and clear in the New Mexico air.

Things were far from perfect. Rath and the others could be killed or fail, the man who killed Michael in another life could learn of their existence. Michael was still a trash can fire of a man but Alex wasn't exactly in a stable state of mind either. His dad was still a problem and he knew his brothers were out there doing unspeakable things to innocent people.

Those were tomorrow's problems.

Tonight, Alex smiled and let his head relax onto Michael's curls, watching the stars flicker softly above them.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to hit me up, you can find me on tumblr @ whimper-soldier


End file.
